


both hands

by theformerone



Series: tumblr prompts [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Multi, this is all mako's fault
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 08:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13899963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theformerone/pseuds/theformerone
Summary: Sakura's mongoose mask clatters to the floor, her fingers absently twitching. She can't make herself take another step forwards. In the end, she doesn't have to."I'll be your legs," Neji murmurs."And I'll be your arms," Shikamaru says.





	both hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amako](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amako/gifts).



> title lifted from Both Hands by Ani DiFranco 
> 
> for mako, who was having a bad day

She reports directly back home after providing her mission report. Her short hair is pulled back under a cowl, too conspicuous and too easily recognizable. Her entire face feels constricted between the cowl and the mask, but she runs twice as hard to get home as she did to get back to the village, because she can't stand to be the way she is right now.

The Rokudaime had dismissed her after giving her one glance. She wasn't the squad leader for this particular mission; she was there for support and for healing in case it was necessary. It turned out to be necessary, but not in the way she had initially anticipated. 

Medical ninjutsu could be used for a variety of methods. Torture was one of them. Kabuto wielding his chakra scalpel had taught Sakura that much. She was the Godaime Hokage's apprentice, and anything that white haired traitor could do, Sakura could do backwards, upside down and blindfolded. It didn't make her like having to do it, but many shinobi did things they disliked for kage and country. 

She hopes that will change when Naruto takes over. 

She manages to get home, but doesn't bother fumbling with the front door. She slips in through the window right into their bedroom. Her chakra deactivates the wards so she isn't shocked upon entry, and she rolls into the room. 

Shikamaru and Neji are asleep on the bed, curled up onto each other. Neji has an arm thrown over Shikamaru's side, and Shikamaru's hands are reaching out to the place where her own body usually makes a divot in the bed. 

His eyes open as her feet hit the floor. He watches her with sleepy eyes as she rises and stands at her full height. He places a hand on Neji's, lightly tapping it to wake up their third. Neji raises his head and peers over at Sakura over Shikamaru's shoulder, pale eyes adjusting to the low light. 

"Welcome home, Mongoose," Shikamaru says, voice a soft rasp. 

A breath shudders out of her, one that she can't manage to stop. 

"You wanna tell me your name?" he asks. 

She swallows hard and tries to remember. She's Mongoose, yes, but she's also the Godaime Hokage's apprentice. She was on a genin team with the Rokudaime Hokage. Meaning her squad leader Hawk was one of her genin teammates, and her other teammate Kingfisher was one of her teammates as well. Their names - Their names were Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto. Yes, yes, that's who they are but who is she?

Shikamaru slowly rises from bed until he's sitting up, Neji not far behind. Shikamaru's hair is down around his shoulders in sleep, and Neji's is pulled into a low braid that falls over his shoulder as he sits up. 

"Identification number, Mongoose," Neji says. 

That's easy. 

"Zero-one-two-six-zero-one." 

It rolls off her tongue. She had to say it for the Rokudaime when she first got back. 

"And what is my name?" Shikamaru asks. 

She blinks slowly and answers. 

"Nara Shikamaru."

"And mine?" Neji asks. 

"Hyūga Neji."

Shikamaru holds his hands together in his lap, elbows placed on his knees. Neji has much better posture, sitting upright with a little smile on his face. 

"And who does that make you, Mongoose?" Neji asks. 

She swallows hard, and it comes back to her. 

"Haruno Sakura," she says. 

Neji's smile gets a little broader, and Shikamaru relaxes. Sakura reaches up her hands and carefully undoes the clasps that hold her mask to her face. She takes it off first, then pulls back the cowl. She remembers now that the braid coiled into a bun on the back of her head was Neji's work before she left. She's been gone nine days. Oh gods, she's been gone  _nine_ days. 

"It's good to have you back, Sakura," Neji says, and there's so much feeling in the way he says it that Sakura believes him. 

It is good to be home. She's missed them terribly. She wants to reach out, once to go to them, to get into bed and let them peel off her white plated armor and her mesh armor and the pants and the sandals. She wants to be squeezed between them, to have them rub their hands over her arms until she really feels like she's home and not on the battlefield anymore. 

But she can't move. She opens her mouth to say another word, to tell Neji how good it is to be home, to tell Shikamaru that she missed the cigarette smell that she always found when she pressed her nose into the curve of his throat and shoulder. But she can't say anything. 

Sakura's mongoose mask clatters to the floor, her fingers absently twitching. She can't make herself take another step forwards. In the end, she doesn't have to.

Neji and Shikamaru are already standing, and moving slowly towards her like she might bolt if they move too quickly. 

"May I?" Shikamaru asks, placing one hand on the white armor on her shoulders. 

"May I?" Neji asks, one hand placed on the sheathed katana at her hip. 

She gives a sharp nod because it's all she can manage to do. Her boys get to work. From behind her, Shikamaru deftly undoes the thousand and one clasps on her armor. Then he gets off her arm guards. Neji disarms her, taking her katana, her kunai holsters, and her shuriken pouch. He places them on the bedside table to take care of later. 

"Arms up," Shikamaru says. 

Sakura whines, a sound low in her throat, because she can't do that either. 

"That's okay," Shikamaru says. "I'll be your arms."

With an astonishing slowness, he works her rigid arms into the air until they're fully extended above her head. He holds them up as Neji works her black turtleneck over her shoulders and neck, and all the way off. Her black sleeves and her compressive bra go in much the same manner. Sakura lets out an unsteady breath as her breasts are freed, and Shikamaru presses a single hand between her shoulder blades after he coaxes her arms back down. 

"In and out," he coaches. 

"I don't know why they make you wear those things," Neji huffs, taking the clothes to the laundry basket. "They'll crack your ribs if you wear them too long."

"Androgyny," Shikamaru answers with a shrug of his shoulders. 

Neji rolls his eyes. 

"As if looking vaguely masculine is the only way to straddle gender lines," he grumbles. 

"Yes, thank you, Hyūga-san, I'll be sure to tell the Rokudaime to change the uniform to accommodate the current wave in gender theory," Shikamaru needles. 

It gets a laugh out of Sakura. A hard one, rough and foreign sounding because she hasn't done it in over a week. From the way Shikamaru and Neji smile at the sound, that was the point. 

Neji gets down to his knees in front of her and Sakura has a visceral flashback to the last time he did that, nine days ago, the night before she left while Shikamaru's arms were a cage behind her, his mouth on her neck while Neji buried his mouth between her thighs. 

"Slow down, tiger," Shikamaru says with a smirk on his face. 

Neji rolls his eyes. 

"Foot up," he says from below her. 

Sakura shakes her head. Her feet feel like lead, and she can't pick them up any more than she can lift her arms. Neji nods brusquely at that, and Shikamaru carefully pulls Sakura back into his chest until he's taking all of her weight. 

"Then I'll be your feet," Neji says. 

While Shikamaru holds her, Neji picks up one foot and then the other, carefully undoing her shin guards and then removing her sandals. Then her pants, and he lifts her feet to help her step out of them. Then her underwear, and Sakura shivers at that, too. 

"You smell bad," Shikamaru says directly into her ear. 

Sakura would slap him if she could move her arms freely. 

"Legs," Shikamaru says. 

Neji places the rest of the clothes in the laundry basket, then returns. Shikamaru places his hands on Sakura's hips, then quickly lifts her. Neji grabs her thighs and wraps them carefully around his hips. With Shikamaru's help, her arms go to wrap around Neji's throat. 

"Arms," Neji says. 

Shikamaru nods, and turns. Sakura lets her cheek fall against Neji's bare chest as she's walked through their house. He's warm still from sleep, and he smells like sandalwood and home. She manages to give him a weak squeeze, and Neji presses a kiss to her forehead for it. 

Shikamaru starts the shower, and somehow manages to get Neji out of his sleep pants while he's still holding up Sakura. Shikamaru gets naked himself, then the three of them squeeze into the shower. Neji holds her up while Shikamaru scrubs her clean. He even manages to undo her braided bun and wash her hair. 

After the shower, Shikamaru briefly towels them down and starts a bath. He drops in a handful of bath salts that smell of myrrh, and as the hot water fills the tub, the soft scent fills the air. It makes Sakura relax despite herself, eyes fluttering shut as Neji holds her close. 

When the tub is full, Neji steps in first. Carefully, he unwinds her legs from around his hips, and hands her off to Shikamaru in a bridal carry. He sits down in the tub, and Shikamaru places Sakura down against Neji's chest. Shikamaru is the last to get in the tub, gently pressing his back against Sakura's. 

She breathes in and then out again, nose wrinkling when she smells a cigarette. Shikamaru's lifted the pack he keeps on the windowsill and the lighter there as well, and he's settled the ashtray on the rim of the tub. He lights up, sucks down a little of the smoke, then turns around a little bit, and carefully places the cigarette between Sakura's lips. 

She rarely smokes. Only every once in a while after they have sex; she's a sucker for a ciggy and a cuddle. They're ridiculously unhealthy, but she takes a couple of drags because she can. He takes it back and finishes it off. They sit in the tub in silence, the water moving high and splashing a little bit over the edge and onto the floor. 

After a little while, she's able to move her arms. One, she wraps around Shikamaru's neck, and the other reaches down to where Neji's hand is clasped over her stomach. She breathes in and then out, the smoke of Shikamaru's cigarette, the smell of wet skin, and Neji's chest rising and falling behind her. 

Safe. She's safe. 


End file.
